A number of councils across the UK have imposed bans on some vehicles from parking in their car parks - because they’re just too massive. At least five councils have explicitly stated that vehicles over five metres (approx. 16.4 ft) in length are effectively banned from standard council-run car parks.
Because the standard UK parking bay is only 4.8 metres long, anything over five metres is effectively “at risk” of a fine for overhanging the white lines in several council areas. The councils currently enforcing this are Wokingham, South Hams, Broadland, South Norfolk, and West Devon.
If your vehicle hangs over the white line of a bay, you are liable for a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for “failing to park within a marked bay.” Experts say it’s surprising how many “normal” luxury and family cars now fall into this category.
Wokingham Council said: “We have a limit on size of vehicle and weight of vehicle allowed to use the car parks these were introduced at different dates. Since June 2023, all motor vehicles whose maximum length does not exceed 5,00 metres and overall height exceeds 2.10 metres and whose gross weight does not exceed 3050 kilogrammes, except for access.”
From 2017 to 2024, Wokingham recorded 153 instances of vehicles breaching the “length rule”. While some councils are banning long vehicles, others are taking the “Parisian approach” by simply charging them more. Last year, Parisians voted to back a steep rise in parking rates for SUVs in the French capital, tripling them for cars weighing 1.6 tonnes or more to €18 (£15.55) an hour in inner Paris.
Cardiff Council became the first major UK city to approve a plan to charge higher parking permit fees for “oversized” vehicles. They are specifically targeting vehicles over 2,400kg (or 2,000kg for non-electrics), arguing they take up more space and increase road wear.
The decision in Cardiff follows a public consultation in which two-thirds (66%) of respondents said they agreed that larger vehicles should pay more for permits. Dan De’Ath, the cabinet member for transport, said SUVs were “much larger than your average car, they produce far more wear and tear on our roads, but fundamentally if you hit a child while driving a heavy SUV the chances of that child dying are grossly inflated”.
He said: “We don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask people driving those kinds of vehicles to pay a little bit more for road wear and the extra space they take up. We’re not talking about SUV-shaped cars, we’re talking about very heavy American-style vehicles. It’s not about banning things, it’s about gently encouraging behaviour change.”
Several London boroughs have also moved toward “emission and size-based” parking, where the physical footprint of the car dictates the permit price. Based on data from a 2024 Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Autocar, 91.8 per cent of the 287 UK local authorities that responded stated they have no plans to increase the size of their parking bays.
Elly Baker, the chair of the Transport Committee on the London Assembly, is among those calling for more action to be taken. “London’s limited road space wasn’t designed for the monster vehicles we are now seeing sold,” she told BBC London.
“SUVs are clogging up our street space, making parking difficult, and the increased bonnet height and weight increase the risk of serious injury or death in a collision. We should be placing limits on the size of normal vehicles, and exploring increased charges where appropriate.”